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Wednesday, December 9, 2015

2016 WRX STI Higgins Edition

It might not be an "official" version available from Subaru, but for all intents and purposes, this is my 2016 Subaru WRX STI "Higgins Edition". Adorned on both sides of the rocker panels of my Series.HyperBlue WRX STI are black "Subaru Rally Team USA" decals as well as two "#75" decals on both sides of the rear spoiler. It seemed fitting to celebrate Higgins & Drew this year for their relentless work this year in the Rally America series.

In the late 90s, when Subaru was reeling in award after trophy after title with their championship-winning rally cars, they released several special edition Imprezas to celebrate those accomplishments. They released the Impreza P1 with their rally partner ProDrive, the iconic Impreza 22B with a special wide body, and a handful of others. They also created two limited-production versions for their winning drivers. Both the Series McRae WRX and the WRX RB5 were released to celebrate Colin McRae (who won the WRC in '95) and Richard Burns (who won the WRX in '01) respectively.

As such, when David Higgins drove his Vermont Sportscar prepared WRX STI to sweep the Rally America Championship and claim a Perfect Season, I couldn't think of a better way to adorn this limited edition Series.HyperBlue WRX STI than with David's number on the wing. This eye-catching color is spot on to the blue color on the championship car that took home the Gold in all 8 Rally America events. While this similarity is probably just a coincidence, it seemed like a great way to celebrate this incredible feat.

In a similar way the owner of a Series McRae WRX must be proud to represent the winning legacy that Colin left behind, I am proud to cheer for SRT USA's David Higgins and Craig Drew in their accomplishments, especially with their incredible performance in the 2015 Rally America Championship every time I drive this car. At the very least, Mr Higgins himself seems to like it!